The Masorti Movement in Israel is scheduled to celebrate the completed construction of its new Jerusalem campus with a gala reception on Monday.

Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat, American Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro and numerous other dignitaries will join the building's architect, Israel Prize-winner Ada Karmi-Melamede, in inaugurating the new campus of the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies.

"The Schechter Institute touched me very deeply," Karmi-Melamede said of the pluralist academy. "Walking through the building, you come across people learning together out loud, and it would seem that they don't interfere with one another. Rather, they complement each other. I found something rare at Schechter - a thread of modesty and unpretentiousness running through it, something that Israelis have lost but I believe are longing to find once more."

The new $8.5 million building, which includes a synagogue, study hall and library, was built on land purchased by the Conservative Jewry's Theological Seminary of America in the mid-1950s. Originally used as dwellings for rabbinical students from abroad, it will now function as a residence for Israeli students.

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The future of every country in the 21st century is in science. Most of
the money should be directed in this direction, otherwise in no time
Israel will turn into a third world country. Notwithstending the good
will of the people who suport Judaic studies; their practice are counter
productive and short sighted in the long run.